For the 0-2 Chargers, there's no 'D' in Denver

Injuries and personal problems made 2008 a season to forget for Antonio Cromartie, and he's working this offseason to help him do just that.<br/>
<em>Nelvin Cepeda/Union-Tribune</em>
— Nelvin C. Cepeda

Injuries and personal problems made 2008 a season to forget for Antonio Cromartie, and he's working this offseason to help him do just that.
Nelvin Cepeda/Union-Tribune
— Nelvin C. Cepeda

“It's embarrassing,” he said. “I'm embarrassed. Our offense did such a great job.”

Ed Hochuli aside – and Jammer was none too happy about that, saying, “We can't put it in the refs' hands, they'll (mess) it up every time” – the Chargers defenders knew why they lost Sunday.

“That's not why we lost,” a grimacing Eric Weddle said of Hochuli's blunder in the final minutes.

The Chargers lost because their defense couldn't make stops in the first half or when doing so would have secured a victory.

“We have to learn how to put four quarters together and not just two like we are doing,” linebacker Shaun Phillips said.

“We shouldn't be in that situation,” linebacker Matt Wilhelm said. “We're a superior ballclub. We didn't show that in the first half, but we did in the second. We can't just turn it on like a switch when we need it.”

For the second straight week, the Chargers allowed an abundance of yards in the first half, only to turn around and play superbly in the final 30 minutes.

Sunday, the Broncos gained 329 yards and scored 31 points before halftime, among the most yards the Chargers have yielded in the first half of a game in the past 17 years and tied for the most points they had allowed in a first half in that span.

Jay Cutler completed 22 of his 30 first-half passes, often to receivers open by several yards. Those completions went for 236 yards. Brandon Marshall, en route to a Broncos-record 18-catch day, caught 10 passes in the first half.

The Broncos scored eight points and gained 157 total yards in the second half.

Among those who was awful in the first half but recovered in the second half was cornerback Antonio Cromartie, who was called for three penalties and let Marshall free a few times in the first half. He was called for a holding penalty in the fourth quarter, but he also made some excellent plays in coverage after halftime.

“I had a lot of emotions going,” Cromartie said. “I had to calm down. I played my worst first half ever. I had to calm down and regroup myself when we came in at halftime. I was showing too much emotion. I got out of my game.

“I was playing too aggressive. I had a lot of key penalties. I gave up a key touchdown in the red zone. That hurt our defense.”

One thing the Chargers did was to disguise their coverages more after halftime. Another thing they did was to play better. And while it is confounding why the Chargers are not able to start better, the defensive coaches are obviously making good adjustments.

“It's hard to know how a team is going to attack you, especially a team like Denver that mixes and matches everything,” Phillips said. “But that goes down to coaching and players studying film.

“I just think we're going out too hyped up instead of being poised and playing football. ... We have to come out and relax. We come out at halftime, we're more poised and relaxed and we know how they're attacking us.”

But, again, with a game on the line, the Chargers could not make a stop that mattered at the end. After losing on a touchdown pass on the last play of the game in the season opener last week, they allowed the Broncos to drive 80 yards and score with 24 seconds remaining Sunday.

And then they allowed the Broncos to score a two-point conversion to win the game.

“It's crazy, like deja vu all over again,” Weddle said. “We can't get a stop.”

Thus, a fine second half was negated.

“We did an awful lot of good in the second half to come back and put ourselves in a ballgame we were probably counted out of,” Wilhelm said. “We have to play better in the first half. We were able to come in, regroup and play Chargers football in the second half.”